It is well known that the angle the drive shaft housing of an outboard motor bears to the transom of a boat is of considerable importance insofar as the boat performing properly in the water, and all who have been aboard a boat powered by an outboard motor have become aware that the boat often will underperform, and plow or squat, or sometimes "porpoise" if the tilt of the motor is incorrect.
It is also well known that manually tilted motors are mounted upon the transom of a boat by the use of a transom bracket, with an upper portion of the transom bracket forming a pivotal support for the outboard motor. The transom bracket may be equipped with a spaced pair of stern brackets each containing a series of spaced holes, with each hole of one of the stern brackets being in alignment with a corresponding hole in the other of the stern brackets. An elongate pin is adapted to extend between a selected, aligned pair of spaced holes, with a forward portion of the drive shaft housing of the outboard motor defining a saddle member that will fit between the stern brackets and contact the elongate pin.
When the outboard motor is providing power and the boat is underway, the saddle member presses firmly against a mid portion of the elongate pin, thus to establish a tilt angle of the drive shaft housing of the outboard motor with respect to the transom of the boat. If the boater finds that the boat performs improperly, it is well known that he should stop the boat, remove the elongate pin from the present pair of holes, and then reinsert the pin in an adjacent pair of holes, thus to change the trim of the motor, hopefully in the proper direction.
Unfortunately, the spaced pairs of aligned holes can be grouped no closer together than a certain extent, for should the manufacturer attempt to move the holes too close together, there would be insufficient wall strength or thickness to withstand the thrust of the motor when the boat is underway.
It was to overcome this problem, and to make fine grain adjustments of motor trim angle possible that brought about the evolution of the present invention.